Art and Random Craziness

I went with my housemate to the National Gallery today. It was wonderful. To be honest, I loved the building almost more than the art, but the pieces were really amazing. And the fact that all of them are so incredibly old really awed me. My housemate knows a ton, literally shocking amounts, of information about the various periods of art and how they influenced and flowed into each other and what in society was influencing the particular movement, etc. It was like a complete art history course in one afternoon. Fantastic. Turns out I like Baroke or Borroc or however the hell you spell that art period. Also like modern art like Picasso and Degas, as well as older stuff like Rembrant and this other guy who's name escapes me. One of my favourite pieces was by Degas, I forget what it's called which is hilarious. Three Dancers, I think it's called actually. It's really simple but also really beautiful up close.

The afternoon really got me thinking about art because it's something I've never really bought into. To me, what some people call art is really just nothing. Absolutely nothing. And I learned today that it's all due to some guy in 1917 who did an exhibit and put a toilet seat in the exhibit and called it 'art'. Since then people have been doing all kinds of crap and setting up all kinds of ridiculous exhibits and calling it 'art'. Whatever, maybe I'm just not as enlightened as some of the more 'artistic' individuals out there. Or maybe I'm just more of an auditory individual in that I feel music is one of the purest forms of art. Tho clearly there's some total crap out there as well, but I can at least appreciate the total crap if it's catchy or fun to dance to. When visual art is crappy, it's just crappy. Buuuuttttt, in saying all of this, I am attempting to be open minded. My problem is that it seems that if you're Jo Dumbass and you decided to pee in a glass bottle and put a green cork in the bottle and then decide to place that bottle on a podium under some light and call it art, people will believe you. And then along comes Dave Stupidhead and Dave decides he 'totally gets' your art is 'is deeply moved by what your art is saying' and agrees to pay you, Jo Dumbass, a ridiculous sum of money for this piece of 'art' and suddenly Jo Dumbass is some world renowned artist simply because people assume that if one Stupidhead is willing to pay craploads of money to a Dumbass for that Dumbass' art then that Stupidhead must know/see something the rest of us can't and that the Dumbass really is some amazing artist. And no one is going to admit that they don't understand what the hell is so deep, moving or inspiring about urine in a bottle with a green cork on a podium under some light so they go along with it, stroke their chins, walk around the podium and disuss its dimension and use of the colour green (which may or may not symbolize how money is the cork with which we stuff our bottled lives, hoping the urine that is our lives will appear somehow more like liquid gold). I'm opting to just stay out of it and experience art in museums only. I will have art in my home, of course, but I'll stick to more urban and cultural art and stay away from any kinds of 'movements'. And if you ever hear me say I spent more than $500 on a piece of art, slap me. Slap me hard. And if the piece of art does not take up an entire wall for $500, then hit me with your shoe and remind me what that $500 could have bought me at Forever 21.

Now the random craziness of my day. There were two instances. The first was returning home from the gallery, in the Charing Cross underground, there was this woman. At first as we walked up to her from behind, I noticed her swaying a bit. Then as we got closer, I could swear that she was shaking her booty but she was wearing a pretty bulky jacket so I couldn't be sure. As we passed her, I turned to look and she was wearing head phones, her bags were on the ground, her eyes were closed and she was definitely boogeying down. It was alot more visible from the front because her jacket was open. She was proper grinding away by herself to whatever music she was listening to. And then she started say 'ooh', ya', 'oooooooh', 'ya', 'woooh!', 'uh'. And with the way she was dancing I would have to assume she was listening to some old school R&B or soul intended for the bedroom like some Teddy, or Luther or Barry . But I had to give it to her, she was really enjoying that song and grooving down right then and there, regardless of the crowd of people on the platform, even throwing in some slow motion pelvic thrusts as well while making an 'ooohhh, yes' face also more appropriate in the bedroom. And then the train came, we got on, and she did not!!! She just kept on dancing right there. Too funny.

The second random craziness was at the Co-op (grocery store). This woman started yelling at this stockboy that there was no organic milk and how the last six times she'd been there, there was no organic milk. She wanted to know what the hell was going on and if they had even placed an organic milk order, or if they even planned to continue stocking organic milk. She made it clear that she was furious and expected there to be some organic milk in stock on her next visit. Totally hilarious. Especially cause the stock boy completely ignored her after she began her rant. When she first yelled 'excuse me!', he went over, then when she started asking why there was no organic milk, he shrugged, said 'sorry maam, I can not help you' and went back to stocking his shelf and then ignored the rest of her rant. So funny, I was dying inside.

Ah London, how I love your random craziness. We don't get craziness like this at home and I assume it's because there are less people and therefore less crazy people.